Changing Sports Addresses?

April 03, 1986|By From a talk by urbanologist Pierre DeVise.

Chicago is the only city in the nation that is still home to three major league baseball and football teams. But success may have spoiled our local teams. Divisional championships were won in the last three years by the White Sox, the Cubs and the Bears.

Given their popularity, the Cubs could sell more tickets with night games, and the Bears could sell out a larger stadium than Soldier Field. The Sox have not been able to parlay their 1983 exploits into attendance gains. And they blame the condition and location of their stadium, rather than two disappointing seasons. Thus, all three teams are voicing threats to relocate to the northwest suburbs.

I predict that in the decade ahead two or three of Chicago`s teams will share a single sports complex in Du Page County. The Bears will shed their Grabowski address for a Smith address.

Given the dichotomy of black inner city, white suburbs found in many metro areas, the anti-urban bias of stadium relocation often projects an anti- black bias. The anti-urban, anti-black bias is no doubt related to the fact that white middle-class suburbanites make up the bulk of football stadium patrons.